Sustainable development can only be achieved if women have autonomy over their bodies. It is only when women and girls across the region can make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health, will they be able to lead a healthy and productive life.
When health emergencies occur it is the doctors and other healthcare providers who are on the frontlines in responding to the humanitarian and public health crises. But they along with those impacted are not just part of the ‘problem’ but also key to effective solutions. Along with the most affected people, it is the frontline healthcare providers who should be shaping responses to pandemics and health emergencies. Associations of different medical specialities must join forces to give input to the government to help improve responses to pandemics like COVID-19 and other health emergencies. The same holds true for networks of other healthcare providers and key actors who have a critical role to play in such crises. Failing in organized medicine will only defeat us on the goals that public health and sustainable development initiatives are trying to achieve. Also, let us remember that it was healthcare workers who were on the frontlines in the severest phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 13th national conference of the AIDS Society of India (13th ASICON) in Hyderabad, India, opened with an important session hosted by the Organized Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG) of India – a network of over 15 professional medical associations in the country including the Association of Surgeons of India (ASI), Indian Academy of Paediatricians (IAP), AIDS Society of India, Indian Associations of Ophthalmologists, Orthapaedicians, Anaesthesiologists, INDUSEM, NCDC, among others. This OMAG session at the 13thASICON was chaired by noted HIV leaders Dr Basavraj Sajjan and Dr Prakash Bora. Dr Suneela Garg, President of OMAG and Professor of Excellence (Community Medicine) at Delhi’s Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) said that the Organized Medicine Academic Guild of India was founded in 2018 mandated to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals agenda of the Indian government. “It is our collective vision that will help accelerate progress towards achieving health of our societies,” said Dr Garg. “Global health security is one of the biggest challenges for a highly diverse and populous nation like India. That is why OMAG is already unifying different medical experts’ associations to improve responses to antimicrobial resistance, TB, trauma, non-communicable…
Global health thought leader Dr Tim France rightly tweeted, “Here is the WHO stating explicitly what most people I know are saying to one another privately: Is not it really risky to lift all COVID-19 related measures now, with the virus still circulating in high levels? Clearly, in these global experts’ minds, the answer is an emphatic yes.” He was referring to the World Health Organisation (WHO) which has warned “Some countries are lifting all public health and social measures despite high numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths.” WHO experts have instead called for a slow approach. While several countries are relaxing COVID-19 prevention and control measures, the weekly number of deaths have been increasing week after week in 2022. As per the latest epidemiological update of WHO, there were more than 75,000 deaths worldwide due to COVID-19 in the second week of February 2022- almost double of the weekly deaths at the start of 2022. According to the WHO, 41000 people had died due to COVID-19 in the first week of January 2022, 43000 in the second week, 45000 in the third week, 50000 in the fourth week, and 59000 by the last week. Over 68000 people died due to COVID-19 in the first week of February 2022, and 75000 in the second week. The number of new weekly deaths in the second week of February 2022 had increased in four out of six WHO geographic regions: 38% increase in Eastern Mediterranean, 27% rise in Western Pacific, 14% rise in Africa, and 5% rise in the Americas. Europe reported a similar number of deaths as the first week of February whereas southeast Asia reported a decline of 9%. Let us also have a look at those countries that recorded the most deaths (over 1000) in the last seven days (in descending order): US, Brazil, Russia, India, Italy, France, Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Germany, Colombia, Japan, UK, Iran, and South Africa. Is it true? Every Life Matters Even one untimely death is a death too many. We have no excuse today after more than a year of vaccination…
Covid’s Impact on Child Labour in India: Facts about Child Labour Over the past nine months, the entire news and social media have been flooded with reports of rising cases of Covid-19 and the impact it has had on India’s economy. Millions of people lost their jobs or were forced to take pay cuts. Migrants were forced to walk hundreds of kilometres back home and economic activity in rural areas came to a halt. While these visible issues were extensively covered by various news agencies, some other invisible issues remained untouched. One such issue is the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on child labour. The Pandemic, economic instability and child labour The last few decades have seen significant progress in the fight against child labour. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has posed a risk of backtracking. Positive trends may fade away, and the problem may even worsen in most places. Therefore, there is an urgent need to acknowledge this aspect of the pandemic’s impact and take urgent action to protect children and their families. The pandemic has had a significant negative impact on the economy. It has led to profound disruptions of supply chains, halts in manufacturing and hence increased economic insecurity. The very high proportion of workers in the informal economy makes India especially vulnerable to the economic and labour market shocks arising as a result of the pandemic. The experience of previous epidemics and financial crises also suggest that the coronavirus pandemic will lead to a rise in child labour. During the Ebola pandemic from 2014-2016, the large number of children were left vulnerable and child labour in affected areas increased. The global HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s led to reduced economic growth, in turn impacting children and youth. Many children experienced the loss of one or both parents and in the absence of social protection, found themselves head of household and providers for siblings or a sick parent. Youth were widely reported to drop out of school and start work at a young age, with no skills or experience. The global financial crisis of 2007-08 also led…
Building resilience is critical to minimise the impact of humanitarian crises Article based on insights from United Nations expert on humanitarian responses on how governments, institutions, communities, individuals and other levels/ actors can boost their resilience to cope with crises situations such as the pandemic. The number of people affected and displaced by conflicts and natural disasters has almost doubled over the past decade and continues to rise. Climate crisis is a major driver and amplifier of disaster risks and losses, even as armed conflicts compel hordes of people to flee their homes in search of safety. Slow onset disasters, like extreme temperatures and droughts, have added to disaster-related economic losses. Infectious disease outbreaks among refugees and displaced persons are also becoming increasingly common and pose a major threat to health security and social protection. The impact is especially severe on women and girls, people living with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. This changing humanitarian landscape is even more relevant in the Asia Pacific region, which is the most disaster-prone region of the world. In 2018, 50% of all the 281 global natural disasters occurred in the Asia Pacific, with 8 out of the 10 deadliest ones also in this region. The growing impact of recurrent and protracted disasters and humanitarian crises is posing a major threat to sustainable development and reinforces the importance of developing long term interventions that address humanitarian needs as well as development and peacebuilding challenges. While delivering the plenary address at the 9th virtual session of the 10th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSHR10), Dr Tomoko Kurokawa, Regional Humanitarian Advisor at United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Asia Pacific, made a case for building resilience across the humanitarian, development and peace-building triple nexus. What is triple nexus? The “humanitarian, development and peace nexus” is about synergising the efforts of members of the humanitarian, development, and peace community by ensuring that humanitarians can focus on acute needs and those in development can focus on long term resilience, promoting peaceful and robust communities. What is resilience? Resilience is the ability of an individual,…
New Delhi, Jul 14 (By Jyoti Singh): The Drug Discovery Hackathon (DDH), 2020 training programme kick-started with lectures on different topics. It is an online platform to take open source drug discovery to a higher pedestal in the crusade against the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Shekhar C. Mande, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (DG-CSIR) delivered a lecture on “Rational Drug Design: An Overview”. He laid emphasis on target identification and validation, assay development, virtual screening (VS), high throughput screening (HTS), quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) and refinement of compounds, characterization of prospective drugs, testing on animals for activity and side effects, clinical trials and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, protein-ligand docking, docking software etc. He expressed his hopefulness that the participants will be able to imbibe with the enriching knowledge on drug discovery through DDA 2020 and with an element of rationality will proceed forward in the quest for an effective drug against COVID-19. Dr G. Narahari Sastry, Director, CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR-NEIST), Jorhat delivered a lecture on “Mathematics and Biology”. He told that a combination of biology and mathematics is essential for drug discovery. “Drug discovery is highly indispensable and is highly interdisciplinary which need to have the participation of people from diverse science background to come out with an effective drug” said Dr Sastry. He mentioned that Computer-Aided Drug Discovery (CADD) Services Market is growing manifold, given the fact that it is highly useful in early stages of drug discovery especially in lead optimization, hit-to-lead, hit generation, target validation and target identification. The current crises of COVID will give much more impetus to CADD and computational methods are indispensable to any design and discovery, let alone drug design and discovery. Given the complexity in the nature of SARS-CoV-2 virus, there is a need for a collective intelligence to understand the virus and identify an effective drug against it. Therefore, this platform has been created to draw in a plethora of promising talents across the world under one umbrella so as to come out with an effective and permanent solution to this execrable…
#JusticeForJayarajAndFenix: Tamil Nadu Custodial Death – The Truth with Faye D’Souza #Justice for #tiger victims and victims the #police #brutality under Yogi raj in #Pilibhit. Palash Biswas A father-son duo, P Jayaraj and J Bennicks, were picked up by #TamilNadu police for opening their shop during the lockdown in Tuticorin. Curfew time begins at 8 PM in that area. At 7.30 the policemen visited the shop and demanded mobile phone on EMI. Police never pays back; it is general experience and the father _son duo refused them. They were beaten brutally at the shop before the eyes of hundreds of villagers who live together in peace and love. Police abused abundantly and expressed anger that the duo dared to refuse them. The duo was arrested under 188 while the policemen themselves broke the law and misused the public health crisis in Corona pandemic period for which they must be punished. Pandemic precautions demand that the jails should be decongested but they arrested two innocent people just because they refused to sell a mobile to them on EMI. News reports now suggest they were brutally sexually assaulted as well as violently thrashed in police custody, post which both of them have succumbed to their injuries. The death in custody is brutal murder as the genitals of the victims were destroyed. Entire Police Station must be booked and everyone there should be dismissed and arrested immediately. The post-mortem report is forged and no injury caused by police noted. The magistrate even did not see the accused and query them according to the law nor ensured that they should not be tortured. Total 30 persons including the police, magistrate and doctor are involved in the case. Hundreds of villagers are the eye witness. Civil liberty and human riots violated. 188 misused. Pandemic used as a tool of repression. Custodial guidelines set by the lie again and again and enhanced by the Supreme Court were violated. This incident has resulted in mass outrage across Tamil Nadu, resulting in public outrage and riots. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palani swami, on Wednesday, assured legal action…
Substantial investment needed to avert mental health crisis 13 May 2020–The COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting the need to urgently increase investment in services for mental health or risk a massive increase in mental health conditions in the coming months, according to a policy brief on COVID-19 and mental health issued by the United Nations today. impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health extremely concerning : DG WHO “The impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health is already extremely concerning,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. “Social isolation, fear of contagion, and loss of family members is compounded by the distress caused by loss of income and often employment.” Depression and anxiety are increasing Reports already indicate an increase in symptoms of depression and anxiety in a number of countries. A study in Ethiopia, in April 2020, reported a 3-fold increase in the prevalence of symptoms of depression compared to estimates from Ethiopia before the epidemic. Specific population groups are at particular risk of COVID-related psychological distress. Frontline health-care workers, faced with heavy workloads, life-or-death decisions, and risk of infection, are particularly affected. During the pandemic, in China, health-care workers have reported high rates of depression (50%), anxiety (45%), and insomnia (34%) and in Canada, 47% of health-care workers have reported a need for psychological support. Children and adolescents are also at risk. Parents in Italy and Spain have reported that their children have had difficulties concentrating, as well as irritability, restlessness and nervousness. Stay-at-home measures have come with a heightened risk of children witnessing or suffering violence and abuse. Children with disabilities, children in crowded settings and those who live and work on the streets are particularly vulnerable. Other groups that are at particular risk are women, particularly those who are juggling home-schooling, working from home and household tasks, older persons and people with pre-existing mental health conditions. A study carried out with young people with a history of mental health needs living in the UK reports that 32% of them agreed that the pandemic had made their mental health much worse. An…
Brazzaville, 7 May 2020 – Eighty-three thousand to 190 000 people in Africa could die of COVID-19 and 29 million to 44 million could get infected in the first year of the pandemic if containment measures fail, a new study by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa finds. The research, which is based on prediction modelling, looks at 47 countries in the WHO African Region with a total population of one billion. The new estimates are based on modifying the risk of transmission and disease severity by variables specific to each country in order to adjust for the unique nature of the region. The model predicts the observed slower rate of transmission, lower age of people with severe disease and lower mortality rates compared to what is seen in the most affected countries in the rest of the world. This is largely driven by social and environmental factors slowing the transmission, and a younger population that has benefitted from the control of communicable diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis to reduce possible vulnerabilities. The lower rate of transmission, however, suggests a more prolonged outbreak over a few years, according to the study which also revealed that smaller African countries alongside Algeria, South Africa and Cameroon were at a high risk if containment measures are not prioritized. “While COVID-19 likely won’t spread as exponentially in Africa as it has elsewhere in the world, it likely will smoulder in transmission hotspots,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa. “COVID-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years unless a proactive approach is taken by many governments in the region. We need to test, trace, isolate and treat.” The predicted number of cases that would require hospitalization would overwhelm the available medical capacity in much of Africa. There would be an estimated 3.6 million–5.5 million COVID-19 hospitalizations, of which 82 000–167 000 would be severe cases requiring oxygen, and 52 000–107 000 would be critical cases requiring breathing support. Such a huge number of patients in hospitals would severely strain the health capacities…
In order to prevent the prevention of coronavirus infection, there will be complete lockdown for the next three weeks from 12 o’clock on Tuesday night across the country. But even during this period, banks, insurance companies, ATMs, print and electronic media establishments will be open along with shops for basic necessities like ration, milk, vegetables, fruits etc. Government of India issues Orders prescribing lockdown for containment of COVID-19 Epidemic in the country The COVID-19 epidemic has affected many countries and the World Health Organisation has declared it ‘Pandemic’. Government of India (GOI) has been taking several proactive preventive and mitigating measures starting with progressive tightening of international travel, issue of advisories for the members of the public, setting up quarantine facilities, contact tracing of persons infected by the virus and various social distancing measures. Several advisories have been issued to States and Union Territories (UTs) for taking necessary measures to contain the spread of this virus. Government have temporarily suspended metro and rail services as well as domestic air traffic. The situation has been continuously reviewed at the level of the Prime Minister of India. The PM has addressed the Nation on the need for preventive measures and has also held meeting with all the Chief Ministers through video conference. Experts, keeping in view the global experiences of countries which have been successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 unlike some others where thousands of people died, have recommended that effective measures for social distancing should be taken to contain the spread of this pandemic While steps taken by State/UT Governments are in the right direction, lack of uniformity in the measures adopted as well as in their implementation, may not serve the objective of containing the spread of the virus. Considering the situation. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, in exercise of the powers under section 6(2)(i) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, has issued an Order dated 24.03.2020, directing the Ministries/ Departments of Government of India, and the State/Union Territory Governments and State/ Union Territory Authorities to take effective measures…
